


The Best Men

by MercuryR (courteouswall)



Category: MASH (TV)
Genre: Coming Out, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-20
Updated: 2018-09-20
Packaged: 2019-07-14 15:18:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16043117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/courteouswall/pseuds/MercuryR
Summary: Something is eating Hawkeye and BJ wants to know where he's been disappearing off to.





	The Best Men

**Author's Note:**

> This is very much a WIP but I had little ideas for scenes that just wouldn't leave me alone. And our boys deserve some happy days. 
> 
> Dedicated to the lovely people on the discord who support this type of obsession <3

“Hawk, there you are! You missed our embroidery circle and book club.” BJ moved over to let Hawkeye put down his tray and coffee. Lunch was something unidentifiable but everyone had dutifully taken their share.

“Shame. What was the book this week?” Hawkeye took a sip of his coffee, then made a face and spit it right back.

“Lady Chatterley’s Lover,” BJ answered. 

“Oh I already know all the good parts of that.” Hawkeye smirked and stole a piece of toast from BJ’s tray. 

“What are you nincompoops on about this time?” Burns slammed his tray down, spraying flecks of...something across the table.

“Keeping our lunch to ourselves, mostly.” Hawkeye brushed at his shirt, ignoring Burns making a rude face.

“Don’t mind him, he’s just mad Margaret wouldn’t sit next to him during mass.” BJ crossed his arms triumphantly.

Hawkeye smiled. “Well, I’m sorry I wasn’t there to keep her company.”

“Father Mulcahy was very upset you skipped out, Pierce.” Burns sneered. BJ gently shook his head, meeting Hawkeye’s gaze. “I would love to know what was so important.”

“Well if you must know,” Hawkeye began, barely suppressing that classic grin. “I saw a Korean soldier walking into Rosie’s bar.”

Burns sat forward. “Really? So you followed him in and showed him what’s what?”

“Oh yes, Frank. I walked in right behind him, grabbed him by the lapels…”

“And hit him right in the teeth!?”

“I said ‘look here, fella... Let me buy you a drink!’ And then I gave him a hundred dollars to thank him for his service.”

Burns groaned in frustration and snatched up his tray. “You imbecile! I’ll turn you in for aiding and abetting!”

Hawkeye burst into laughter. “I didn’t say he was a North Korean, Frank!” BJ chuckled and watched Frank storm out of the mess tent.  
“Where were you really, Hawk?” He asked.

“Beej, I was out for a stroll by the pond.”

“The one with the little ducklings?”

“The very same. And I happened upon two lovely ladies -- unchaperoned -- so I had to escort them, you understand.” 

BJ shook his head. “Alright Hawk, I’ll see you in the Swamp. They’re expecting me in post op.” His smile was fond as he patted Hawkeye on the shoulder and made his way outside.

Hours later, BJ was scrubbing his wrists and wondering where Hawk had disappeared to. He hadn’t hung around to shout at Frank, which just wasn’t like him at all. A nurse nudged BJ’s elbow with a clean towel.

“Thanks.” BJ stepped behind the curtains to change. He stuck his head into post op on the way out but it was empty -- if one discounted the resting soldiers. He set out across camp toward the Swamp, looking forward to putting up his feet. The supply tent was directly ahead on the other side of what passed for a road in these parts. BJ saw a familiar tall and dark-haired figure standing outside.

Hawkeye was leaning forward, one hand in his pocket and the other arm up against a wooden post. His stance was relaxed and he was smiling broadly, like he had just told a joke he was particularly proud of. He was speaking to someone in a leather jacket with a fur collar -- a pilot -- obviously waiting to fly wounded to the evac. Hawkeye shifted his weight and took his hand out his pocket to gently pluck at the pilot’s sleeve.

He was flirting, BJ realized suddenly. He smiled fondly, then realized he had been staring at his best friend in a compromising position for what might be considered a little too long. BJ shook his head and tore his gaze away from the two men. A glass of gin, that’s what he needed. 

He lost himself in a letter to Peggy, talking about the spirited chess tournament he and Hawk had hosted in the Swamp. To everyone’s surprise, Klinger had come out on top, claiming his lucky earrings had helped. Frank had whined and accused nearly everyone of cheating.

There was a knock at the door and BJ called out without putting down his pencil. “Oh, Captain BJ, sir, sorry to interrupt…”

“No problem, Radar. What’s wrong?”

Radar pointed out toward the OR. “It’s post op, sir. It’s that kid with the leg, they’re asking for your help.”

BJ reached for his boots. “Be right there.” He jogged across the camp, not bothering to tie his laces.

Hawkeye was already there, white coat on, giving orders to anyone who would listen. “Come on, he needs whole blood!”

“At your service,” BJ said, tying on his mask. The next two hours passed in a blur but they were all breathing easier in the end, especially the kid on the table. The nurses were given instructions for monitoring his condition and Hawkeye and BJ went to change out of their scrubs.

“You know, it never gets easier.” Hawkeye tugged his shirt over his head.

BJ knew this tone well. “If it was easy, they wouldn’t need us.”

Hawkeye hummed his assent. He glanced out toward the helipad on their way back to the Swamp. His gaze lingered. The sun had set so nobody would still be flying. 

BJ bumped their shoulders together. “Penny for your thoughts, O Unknowable One?”

“Yeesh, buy me a drink first.”

“Fine, but we’re moving a little fast.” BJ held the door open on the way in. He was happy to see that Frank was off somewhere doing his evil deeds out of their sight. It was Hawkeye who poured the gin in the end, taking his glass to the edge of his bed, about as far from BJ as he could get without laying on Frank’s bunk.

BJ lay back on his pillows, one arm behind his head, the other supporting his glass on his chest. “Really Hawk, what’s eating you? You’ve been quiet all day.”

“Frank’s fleas probably. Or bacteria from that slop we had for lunch.” Hawkeye looked out the walls of the tent. Toward the helipad again, even though it was behind the mess tent from this angle. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” BJ asked.

“Talk about what? There’s nothing to talk about.” Hawkeye drained his glass.

“It might make you feel better.” BJ sat up and swung his legs onto the ground, facing Hawkeye with his best conscientious listening face. It was a winner.

“Listen, Beej,” Hawkeye started. He fixed BJ with a serious look. “I trust you and you can’t breathe a word of this to anyone.”

“Not even dear old Ferret Face?” BJ was just teasing, but it was part of the process.

Hawkeye didn’t look cheered, however. “Especially not him.” He poured a little more gin for himself and took a sip. “I’m not quite sure how to start. You know what people are always saying about Klinger?” 

“Oh is that where the nurses’ stockings ran off to?” BJ made as if to lift the cuff of Hawkeye’s pants. 

Hawkeye twisted his ankle out of the way. “I’m trying to be serious, God.” 

“Sorry, Hawk. Please.” BJ folded his hands around the stem of his glass. 

“You know the nurses we have here are beautiful and wonderful, each more than the last.”

“Unparalleled,” BJ offered.

“Well, sometimes, when people have a lot of nurses around, they think about… different things and… meeting new people.” Hawkeye paused awkwardly to take another sip. “And sometimes that’s very often, actually.”

BJ feigned surprised. “Oh! Hawk, that pilot? You didn’t!” He put a hand to his mouth. “Tell me he at least bought you dinner first!”

“You knew? Beej, come on, I’m spilling my guts out here!”

“That’s nothing, I see it all the time in the OR!” BJ ducked just in time to avoid the pillow Hawkeye threw at his face. 

Hawkeye flopped back onto his bad. “This is the last time I tell you anything, mister! Get ready to be totally in the dark!” 

“Come on, Hawk, I’m just trying to cheer you up. It’s really not a big deal.”

Hawkeye sat up again. “Not a big deal? You saw how Frank was about that poor soldier! And in case you hadn’t noticed, I’m not the most subtle schmuck in town. So please, a little discretion.”

BJ mimed locking his lips and tossing the key over his shoulder. “I’m sorry. But why did you hide this from me? You know I would never think less of you for this.”

Hawkeye smiled weakly. “I know, Beej. Thank you.”

“So your handsome aviator, where is he now?” 

Hawkeye scowled and waved a hand. “The 121st evac I imagine. Then a few days in Tokyo, he said.”

“Is he coming back?”

“Who knows?” Hawkeye shrugged. “I think he might be taking someone else to the ball.”

BJ winced. “I’m sorry. We’ll find you a nice Lieutenant Colonel one day.” He didn’t duck in time and caught a ball of yarn right in the nose.


End file.
